“I think they were having sex, Nurse Helm,” he said before winking at her.

Now it was Lindsey’s turn to sport red cheeks. She whipped back around to the elderly couple, who were both looking at the floor. Their tests confirmed they were indeed having heart attacks.

There wasn’t time to dwell on the fact that they’d been doing the nasty. It was an image she would never get out of her mind again, not even if she drank bleach. But then again, when was it too old to be having sex? The thought of ever having to give it up in her lifetime wasn’t appealing.

“Good for you, Mr. Bardon. Happy birthday,” Dr. Stine said after they stabilized the husband and wife. The old man grinned.

Lindsey was free to go at the end of her shift, but the afternoon wouldn’t slow down. Nope. All because Katie had uttered the Q word. Lindsey tried not to even think of the Q word while in the hospital.

She left the Bardons and then was pulled into another exam room where a little girl had a bone sticking out of her leg. That was an easy call. She was rushed to surgery. And still more patients came through the front doors.

They had to move through the patients quickly and call in their on-call staff to cover the deluge of people. They saw everything from minor scrapes to fractures and other serious injuries.

But by the time the day was over, Lindsey sagged against the wall as she sipped on an ice-cold Pepsi and smiled.

“How can you smile after the hell we’ve been through?” Katie asked, her hair sticking out in all sorts of new places, her mascara smeared, and her scrubs filthy.

“Because we didn’t lose a single patient. I call that a good day,” Lindsey told the girl.

“I will never say that Q word again,” Katie said as she looked around.

“That might be wise,” Lindsey told her.

“You ladies doing okay?” Dr. Stine asked as he came through the hall door.

“Great, Dr. Stine, thanks for asking,” Katie said as she straightened up and attempted to brush back her hair. Lindsey wanted to tell her it was no use. There would be no helping that hair, not ever again.

“How did the little girl’s surgery go?” Lindsey asked, finally pushing away from the wall and moving toward the lounge where she could take a rinse-off shower, change her clothes, and get out of the hospital. She would take a lot longer shower after she made it home. There had been too much grime on her this afternoon.

“It went great. She’s not even going to have a limp when she heals,” he said, obviously pleased.

The man might be slightly obnoxious and a bit too full of himself, but he was an incredible surgeon. She could appreciate that.

“Glad you were here, then,” she said before moving toward the lounge door. He grabbed her arm again, an act she didn’t like. She would really need to speak to him about boundaries.

“Want to go get a drink and celebrate?” he asked.

She was so shocked her mouth must have hung open. She turned back around to look at him, but didn’t quite know what to say. Finally, her brain caught up to her vocal cords.

“I’m sort of seeing someone right now, but thanks for the offer,” she finally managed. “Plus, I don’t date doctors. It’s too complicated.”

He didn’t seem in the least bit fazed. He just smiled at her and then finally let go of her arm. He took a step away before turning back and giving her the full force of his cocky grin.

“I like complicated. See you at the ball.”

And just like that, he disappeared again. Lindsey retreated to the employee lounge and then got out of the hospital as quickly as she could. Her day had been messy. It was time to go home.

Hopefully her personal life would never be quite as complicated as her professional life was. It might not be if it weren’t for Maverick. Like she said a couple of months ago, Maverick created complications.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Sitting in the den of Cooper’s house, Maverick leaned back in the chair as he threw back another whiskey and cola. His brothers had called a meeting, but he wasn’t in the mood for one. He finished his drink, got up, made a refill, and then sat back down.

He’d come to the hospital to take Lindsey out after work and had witnessed the interaction between her and the good doctor. His first instinct had been to smash his fist through the doctor’s face. But something had stopped him.

Maverick knew his relationship with Lindsey wasn’t going to last, but he didn’t want to leave her devastated when it was over. That feeling of not wanting her to be alone and frightened had stopped him from killing the doctor, but just barely. Then he’d found himself backing away without alerting her to his presence.

He’d been pissed off ever since.

All he wanted to do was rush over to her place and stake his claim. He’d been doing that a lot lately, making love to her, holding her tight, even sleeping all night with her. He knew he needed to back off, but he couldn’t quite make himself let go yet.

Why not?

He’d known from the beginning that it wasn’t going to be permanent. His life had been so much simpler before he’d decided to make it his mission to help Lindsey.

“Are you with us, Mav?”

Looking up, he noticed both Cooper and Nick staring at him. How long had they been talking? Who knew?

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s so important that I had to drop everything and come over here?” he asked, not even trying to cover up his bad mood.

“Is there something you want to share first?” Nick asked him with a smirk on his face.